TAXES »» CORPORATE TAXES »» CORPORATE WELFARE »» Apr 15, 2024

Corporate welfare is a nickname that compares government subsidies to corporations with welfare payments to the poor. It is used to describe government subsidies of money, tax breaks or other favorable treatment for selected corporations. Studies show that about $100 billion is allocated in the federal government’s budget for all types of corporate welfare, not including tax loopholes or trade barriers. Two of the largest recipients of this aid are oil and agricultural corporations. Recent estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at about $35 billion per year, with 20% allocated to coal and 80% to natural gas and crude oil. Oil companies receive subsidies for oil exploration as well as for the exhaustion of oil and gas wells. Critics claim that besides wasting billions of dollars from our Treasury, these subsidies have led to a reckless search for oil in fragile environments like the deep ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico. They say the 2010 catastrophe at the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig can be directly linked to oil-friendly legislation over the last 20 years. In a recent executive order aimed at combating climate change, President Biden has directed federal agencies to eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies and seek new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure. Pending Legislation: H.R.1483 - End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act of 2023 Sponsor: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR) Status: House Committee on Ways and Means Chair: Rep. Jason Smith (MO) I oppose reforming corporate welfare policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA). I support limiting or repealing certain fossil fuel oil and gas subsidies for oil companies by: 1.) Increasing to seven years the amortization period for geological and geophysical expenditures. 2.) Repealing the tax credits for producing oil and gas from marginal wells and for enhanced oil recovery. 3.) Repealing the tax deduction for the intangible drilling and development costs of oil and gas wells. 4.) Repealing percentage depletion. 5.) Repealing the tax deduction for tertiary injectant expenses. 6.) Repealing the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas property. 7.) Denying the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities for oil and gas activities. 8.) Prohibiting the use of the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method by major integrated oil companies. 9.) Limiting the foreign tax credit for dual capacity taxpayers (i.e., taxpayers who are subject to a levy of a foreign country or U.S. possession and receive specific economic benefits from such country or possession). 10.) Expanding the definition of crude oil for purposes of the excise tax on petroleum and petroleum products to include any oil derived from a bitumen or bituminous mixture (tar sands), and any oil derived from kerogen-bearing sources (oil shale). And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Jason Smith (MO) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

Winning Option »» I support limiting or repealing certain fossil fuel oil and gas subsidies for oil companies by: 1.) Increasing to seven years the amortization period for geological and geophysical expenditures. 2.) Repealing the tax credits for producing oil and gas from marginal wells and for enhanced oil recovery. 3.) Repealing the tax deduction for the intangible drilling and development costs of oil and gas wells. 4.) Repealing percentage depletion. 5.) Repealing the tax deduction for tertiary injectant expenses. 6.) Repealing the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas property. 7.) Denying the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities for oil and gas activities. 8.) Prohibiting the use of the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method by major integrated oil companies. 9.) Limiting the foreign tax credit for dual capacity taxpayers (i.e., taxpayers who are subject to a levy of a foreign country or U.S. possession and receive specific economic benefits from such country or possession). 10.) Expanding the definition of crude oil for purposes of the excise tax on petroleum and petroleum products to include any oil derived from a bitumen or bituminous mixture (tar sands), and any oil derived from kerogen-bearing sources (oil shale). And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Jason Smith (MO) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

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